A/N: Spoilers up until Inista Marsh.

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Relations

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"You know..." said Guy, as the party slogged through the boggy landscape. His boots had disappeared beneath the algae coating the water and the bottom of his pants were soaked. "There's something that's been bothering me about this whole thing with Natalia..."

"What do you mean?" Tear asked, glancing back at the deposed princess who trailed the group, looking at the ground. The girl's entire demeanor was bedraggled, a far cry from the confident bearing that, until now, she had kept even while slogging through the vilest portions of the globe.

"Well, part of Mohs' evidence was that she doesn't have red hair," Guy answered, then swat at a persistent swamp fly buzzing around his head.

"Yeah, red hair is a dominant trait in the royal family," Luke said. He brushed a few strands of his own out of his eyes.

"The king has it, and so do you," Guy agreed. "But what's bugging me is... it's your mother who's related to the King, Luke. But you got your hair color from your father as well."

"Technically, he got it from the fomicry machine," Jade cut in, but everyone chose to ignore him.

Anise frowned. The little girl was having a tougher time than the rest, with the water reaching almost to her waist, but it hadn't seemed to dampen her energy. "Wait, so red hair is a trait of the royal family, but Duke Fabre has red hair..." Then her eyes went wide and she made a disgusted face. "Eww! That means your family's incestuous, Luke!"

"W...what?" said Luke, face turning red. "It is not... I mean..."

"That certainly does a lot to explain his intelligence," said Jade smoothly.

"...Shut up..."

"Is Duke Fabre really related to the king?" Tear wondered.

"...He's a second cousin..." Luke muttered. "But that sort of stuff happens all the time in noble families."

"Nobles are only supposed to marry other nobles," Jade agreed, adjusting his glasses. "I believe Emperor Peony's grandparents were rather close relatives, as well. Genetics does a lot to explain why the rulers of countries are so... bizarre."

"You don't have to be nobility to be bizarre," Luke said, glaring at the colonel.

"Hmm," said Anise, tilting her head to the side. "Then... it's probably a good thing that Natalia isn't really a noble." The former princess looked at her questioningly, and she grinned. "Cause then she and Asch would have been first cousins and who knows what kind of messed up kids they'd have had..."

"W...what?" Natalia stammered. "Asch and I...? Children?"

"Come on, don't bother denying it now," Anise said, putting her hands on her hips. "You have it bad for him!"

The archer's face was bright red. "I...don't know what you're talking about!"

"Natalia and Aaasch, sitting in a tree"

"Anise, please!"

"Come on, ladies, don't fight," said Guy, raising his hands with a pleading expression.

"Ooh, don't tell me you're jealous, Guy?" Anise said slyly, rounding on him.

Guy jumped about ten feet backwards. "N—no! Of course not!"

"I hate to interrupt this amusing scene," said Jade calmly, "but I believe the monster is right behind us."

The group suddenly realized that the air around them had grown much more humid and a dark shadow had fallen over the sun. Turning, they saw the giant marsh monster looming over them, hot breath snorting from its nostrils. A drop of saliva fell from its mouth and directly onto Guy's head.

"Oh... crap," was all Luke could think to say. "Anise, the flowers! Let's get the hell out of here!"

And so continued another normal day.

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